The present is the outcome of the cross-sectional study carried out among the Pnars and
Sakacheps of Saitsama village in Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya.The main objective of the
study is to find out whether or not differential fertility exists between the Pnar and Sakachep
communities living in the same ecological niche, and to identify how socioeconomic factors are
associated with differential fertility in these two communities. Demographic data using
structured schedules were collected, which included reproductive performances of 112 Pnar
women and 85 Sakachep women.It was found that the mean ages at marriage (± SE) among the
Pnars and Sakachep women were19.25 ± 0.25 and 19.29 ± 0.33 years, respectively. The
completed family size (± SE) was 7.55±0.47 live-births per mother among the Pnars and
7.71±0.59 live-births per mother among the Sakacheps. The total fertility rate was 6.75 among
the Pnars and 6.25 among the Sakacheps; whereas the mean number of live-births (± SE) to all
married women was found to be 4.79±0.30 and 4.99±0.31, respectively. The result indicated that
both the communities experienced high fertility rate. The adoption of family planning was also
low. It is found that the effects of household income and mother’s education were more
pronounced in case of the Pnars as compared to that of the Sakacheps. So it is expected that
fertility rates among the Pnars would be reduced considerably with the improvement in their
socioeconomic conditions. Such an assumption may not, however, be the same for the Sakacheps
as other socio-cultural factors may play an important role in regulating fertility rates among
them.